Dancing Queen
Here’s a short video of Vivianne dancing at the concert last night. She marched right out there in front and was just dancing away :-) When she realized I was filming her she said, “No pictures, mommy!”
Any guesses?
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| Took this picture today, 22 weeks pregnant) | This one was taken at 22 weeks pregnant with Vivianne |
Will it be a boy or a girl?
Finally, a nice sunny day!
Yesterday was one of the first nice days we have had in a long while. The sun actually stayed out the entire day with temperatures in the mid 80s.
So we take off for the beach only to get there to find out that it wasn’t safe to go into the water due to the increased bacteria levels, probably caused by the crazy thunderstorm we had the night before. We played in the sand a bit, but the water was just too tempting for Vivianne so we decided to try out the pool in Lake Bluff (neighboring suburb). We were blown away by the beautiful facility. It’s only about a 5 minute drive from our place. They had a separate gated pool for the youngsters. I think you would call it a zero entry pool, where you can just walk right in, no steps, so perfect for the little ones, at its deepest it may be 1.5 feet deep. There was even a slide in the middle. Towards the end she got brave enough to go down the slide and once she finally did, it was all she wanted to do. We had so much fun watching her, she kept saying she was a mermaid :-) She played and played and CRIED and CRIED when we left. This was by far the worst she has ever protested when we had to leave anywhere. If it would have been up to her, she would have stayed there all day long. Here are a couple of pictures of her!
First day of summer camp
The little drop-in center we take Vivianne to during the school year offers a 4 week summer camp, including a session for two year olds! Her age group, the backpackers, meet twice a week from 9-12. This year the camp’s theme happens to be travel. Each week they focus on a different country and structure that week’s activities and games around it, this week the country is England. When I picked her up today, she showed me the crown she had made and called herself a queen :-) Everyone was given a camp T-shirt today to wear for the remainder of the camp—she was so excited that she wanted to wear it over the top of her clothes that second. The kids are supposed to come to camp dressed with their swimsuits underneath their clothes. They didn’t end up going swimming today, but Vivianne is still insisting that she wants to go to the swimming pool. I told her not today, and after the “no” sunk in, she responded, “Swim in tub, mommy!” I told her that I thought that could be arranged ;-)
I feel like she’s growing up so fast, today it’s camp, tomorrow it’ll be kindergarden…
What a weekend...
Friday morning there was a knock at the door, I go to answer it and it’s Laura (best bud since childhood, currently living in Minot, ND)!!!!!
She says, “Surprise! Happy Birthday!” I was blown away. It was the first time she had come to Chicago. It was so nice to see her and the surprises didn’t stop there. Thomas had set up appointments for Laura and I to go to the spa the next morning. So we relaxed and enjoyed some ‘girlie’ time together. That evening we all went to this AMAZING restaurant in Chicago called Moto.
Thomas had made the reservation weeks in advance for my birthday. We were served a 20 course meal, yes, I said 20! It took 4.5 hours and we had to have the staff bring the last 5 courses out together because we were afraid we’d miss our train back home, which we ended up missing anyways, but were able to grab a cab instead. There was an option to add wine pairing with the courses, so Thomas and Laura both opted for that while I stuck with the non alcoholic drinks due to the bean in my belly ;-) Being pregnant was probably a good thing for me, I don’t think I could have stood up after 13 different glasses of wine. You would not believe this restaurant. This was the coolest dining experience ever! The menu was edible, how crazy is that! You really have to watch the videos to get a feel for what this place is like. I took pictures of most of the dishes we were served and posted them on flickr. (We could only take photos with the flash off, the lightening wasn’t exactly optimal for taking good pictures-they don’t do the dishes justice, but you get the gist.)
Here’s another video.
One more!
The big 3-0 wasn’t so bad after all…I told Laura and Thomas that I would happily turn 30 again next year :-)
Thank you, Laura and Thomas, for an amazing weekend!
Door County Vacation
We just got back from spending a week in Door County, Wisconsin. Thomas’ mom came with us and we all had a blast. We stayed in Ephraim at the Eagle Harbor Inn. We had a two bedroom, two bathroom suite with a full kitchen and jacuzzi tub! It was lovely. We were lucky to have had sunny days in the 60’s the entire time. Our days were filled with exploring the little quaint towns that make up Door County and eating way too much at some very good restaurants. I don’t think one could ever run out of things to do or see there, between the light houses, the wineries, the state parks, the shopping and all that the lake has to offer, there is something for everyone. We will definitely be planning a trip back there again soon.
Here’s a little slide show of our trip! (I’ve posted captions in flickr, but can’t figure out how to make them appear in the slide show??? So if you are really curious you can read them by clicking on the pictures link at the top right hand side of the web page.)
Loving the long weekend!
Happy three day weekend! Thomas has Monday off so we are loving the thought of having that ‘extra’ day tomorrow to spend together. This weekend the weather has been really nice, it hasn’t been as hot (80+ degrees) as it was earlier in the week, which is good, being two of the people that live in this house sweat very easily and much prefer the temps in the lower 70s :-)
Vivianne has been keeping busy. She is finishing up her music class this coming week, but will start up again this fall. On a different note, she is enjoying another new love, dance class. She has had three weeks of it so far (they only meet once a week, this part she hasn’t quite figured out yet as she will ask if we can go to dance class every single day). There are a handful of girls in her class and it is complete chaos from start to finish. They all start off trying to follow their teacher’s instructions, but end up doing their own thing after about 5 seconds. I think they like the fact that they can see themselves in the mirrors surrounding the room and are infatuated with their own appearance and moves to be interested in what they are supposed to be doing. It is quite the sight!
We have been spending A LOT of time at the park. Vivianne is getting braver and wanting to do and play on the things the ‘big’ kids do and it scares me to death. I always want to go behind her just in case…but Thomas tells me to just let her go, if she falls, she falls and will learn. This is harder said than done. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when she learns how to ride a bicycle by herself…when that time comes, I may have to have the doc prescribe me some type of ‘relaxing’ drug to help get me through ;-)
Recently, Vivianne will not go to sleep without at least 4 or 5 of her favorite books in her crib, which she then proceeds to read to her stuffed buddies as soon as her bedroom door is closed. We can tell she is paying close attention when we read to her because she has memorized some of the words and will turn the pages and recite what she remembers and then flip to the next page like she’s reading:-) It is the cutest thing. Sometimes she will only remember two words and then she will turn the page with so much conviction, you’d think that’s what was printed on the page.
Every once in a while, we will remind her that mommy’s having a baby. She doesn’t seemed too phased at the idea just yet, but will gladly tell you that she wants a baby sister. We will have to wait and see if she gets her wish:-)
We hope you all are enjoying this long weekend!
